A BATTERED-looking Marat Safin admitted involvement in a brawl in Moscow last week, but wasted no time declaring he had won the fight.
The fiery Russian stunned fans when he turned up late at the mixed team Hopman Cup in Perth, Australia sporting two black eyes, but recovered in time to beat Italian Simone Bolelli 7-6, 6-4 in his opening match.
"I won the fight, I'm good, I'
m ok," the former world No 1 said. "I got in trouble in Moscow, but it's ok, I can survive.
"It's just a small problem. I wasn't in the right place at the right time," he added, without elaborating.
Shortly after the conclusion of the match, he first joked in an on-court television interview that the facial injuries came from "working out hard," but then said: "I got in trouble in Moscow. It was much worse ..." At a later press conference, Safin admitted getting into a fight about a week ago in the Russian capital.
A bruised and battered Safin saw a doctor when he arrived in Perth and asked organisers to reschedule his match.
"I wasn't sure why he was arriving so late, why he was requesting to play a day later, but now I know why," said tournament director Paul McNamee.
The 28-year-old Safin has slipped to No 29 in the world rankings, and last October contemplated retirement following his straight-sets loss at the Paris Masters. He said yesterday this will definitely be his last year on the circuit. "My serve saved my game today," Safin admitted. "I couldn't ask for a better start than that."
Safin and younger sister Dinara Safina teamed up to beat Italian pair Bolelli and Flavia Pennetta 2-1 in the Group B tie.
Safin used his big serve to overcome a stuttering Bolelli 7-6, 6-4, while women's world No3 Safina won six successive games in the second set to beat Pennetta 7-5, 6-3.
With the tie already decided, Italy salvaged some pride by coming back from a set down to clinch the doubles match 7-5, 4-6, 6-7 after a final set tiebreak.
On Wednesday, the Russians face Taiwanese pair Hsieh Su-Wei and Lu Yen-Hsun, who lost 3-0 in their opening group encounter with France's Alize Cornet and Gilles Simon.
Group A matches start today, when hosts Australia take on Germany and five-times winners the United States meet Slovakia.
The full article contains 418 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
